Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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March 31st, 2025
Image credit: Fram2/SpaceX
The upcoming crewed flight of the Fram2 mission into polar orbit from Florida is a risky undertaking in many ways.
Riding atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster, the Fram2 crew — commander Chun Wang, vehicle commander Jannicke Mikkelsen, vehicle pilot Rabea Rogge, and mission specialist and medical officer Eric Philips — face multiple challenges.
Fram2 is the first human spaceflight over the Earth’s polar regions.
Image credit: SpaceX
Unique risks
“It’s an exciting mission with lots of important firsts…but of course also with some unique risks,” said Jan Osburg, a RAND senior engineer in the engineering and applied sciences department and a specialist in space safety.
Osburg told Inside Outer Space that risks include dealing with the radiation environment and the unusual orbit.
Image credit: Fram2
“If anything goes wrong that would preclude the capsule from reentering, they can’t get to an in-orbit safe haven like the International Space Station, both due to their different orbit and due to the airlock for this flight having been replaced with the Dragon Cupola, like during the Inspiration4 mission a few years ago,” Osburg advised.
Robust design
Not having an airlock, Osburg said, also means the crew would have to transfer to a rescue vehicle via space walks, if that rescue vehicle – another Crew Dragon, for example — could be launched in time. “Not sure if they will carry the new SpaceX EVA suits with them just for such a dire contingency, though,” he said.
Image credit: SpaceX
On the other hand, the Crew Dragon seems to be a very robust design, Osburg added, “and the crew, while new to spaceflight, are experienced explorers and should be used to extreme environments and high-risk decision-making.”
Dogleg maneuver
Regarding the radiation environment given the polar flight, Osburg said he assumes the Dragon spacecraft, including its avionics, has been extensively tested for its ability to withstand the higher radiation environment. Additionally, the medical implications should be manageable due to the short exposure time of a few days, he said.
At the latitude flown by the Fram2 crew, they are susceptible to high-energy charged particles penetrating the Earth’s magnetosphere.
On departure from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the trajectory to attain a polar orbit likely requires a “dogleg” maneuver during ascent, said Osburg.
SpaceX has done this maneuver a couple of times with un-crewed missions already, Osburg added, to avoid overflying Florida’s Gold Coast. “This costs fuel, but the Falcon 9 can do it,” and even land the booster’s first stage on a droneship afterwards.”
To avoid overflying Florida’s Gold Coast. Image of how that trajectory could look like, based on a previous Falcon 9 flight. This August 30, 2020 mission marked SpaceX’s first launch to a polar orbit from the East Coast, and the first polar launch from Florida in decades.
Image via Jan Osburg
High inclination
According to a Fram2 press statement, with the exception of the Apollo lunar missions, the Earth’s North and South Poles have not been fully visible to other astronauts in orbit, including those onboard the International Space Station. To date, the highest inclination achieved by human spaceflight has been the Soviet Vostok 6 mission, at 65-degrees, in 1963.
Vostok 6 was piloted by the first woman into Earth orbit, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.
The Fram2 mission is named after the original Fram ship that first reached the Earth’s polar regions in the 1800s.
Image credit: Fram2
Research activities
Throughout the nearly four-day mission, among an array of over 20 research activities, the Fram2 crew will capture data about the polar regions.
In collaboration with the University Center of Svalbard, Fram2 will support the SolarMaX Mission to film aurora-like phenomena to create an open-source database of aurora photographs for researchers and citizen scientists.
The crew has also teamed up with Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS International), to host Fram2Ham, a polar history focused competition for the ham radio community.
One biomedical experiment has been developed by the Falak for Space Science and Research, a nonprofit organization in Saudi Arabia. The study will examine how microgravity affects the eye’s microbiome, specifically investigating bacterial behavior, antibiotic resistance, and biofilm formation.
SpaceX is targeting Monday, March 31, at 9:46 p.m. Eastern Florida Time for Falcon 9’s launch of the Fram2 crew to a polar orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
For live coverage, go to: https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=fram2
Posted in 
Image credit: Isar Aerospace/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Intent on becoming a launch service provider for small and medium-sized satellites, the first flight of the Isar Aerospace booster ended in failure.
The Isar Aerospace mission “Going Full Spectrum” was the first flight of an orbital launch vehicle from continental Europe. The first test flight lifted off from Andøya Spaceport in Norway. The first test flight did not include any customer payloads.
Image credit: Isar Aerospace
Isar Aerospace was founded in 2018 and granted a Launch Operator License by the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Go to livestream replay of the first test flight of Isar Aerospace at:
https://www.youtube.com/live/bykfQ3J4NNc?si=wOZ2MgshvyHEA33T
Also, go to this video of the crash of the booster, and thanks to Don Davis for the posting at: https://www.facebook.com/karthik.naren.nkkn/videos/9506094676150357/?idorvanity=796630247386464
Image credit: Isar Aerospace/Inside Outer Space screengrab
In a March 30 post-liftoff posting, the company stated: “After ignition of its first stage and liftoff at 12:30 PM CEST, launch vehicle successfully cleared the launch pad, was terminated at T+30 seconds and fell directly into the sea in controlled manner.”
“First test flight met set goals, substantial amount of flight data and experience will pave the way for future missions. Launch pad at Andøya Spaceport remains intact. Spectrum launch vehicles #2 and #3 already in production.”
Image credit: Isar Aerospace
CEO and Co-founder Daniel Metzler:
“Our first test flight met all our expectations, achieving a great success. We had a clean liftoff, 30 seconds of flight and even got to validate our Flight Termination System. With this result, we feel confident to approach our second flight.”
For more information, go to:
https://isaraerospace.com/newsroom-first-test-flight
Lastly, First Orbital Rocket Launched From European Soil, Becomes First Rocket To Crash In European Waters by Scott Manley
Can we figure out what happened?
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Experiments onboard China’s space station are being readied to study planaria, a kind of flatworm with amazing regeneration abilities.
“The planarias can regrow complete heads or tails when cut, making them ideal models for studying tissue regeneration,” reports China Central Television (CCTV. Planaria is a kind of flatworm with amazing regeneration abilities. The planarias can regrow complete heads or tails when cut, making them ideal models for studying tissue regeneration.
According to the researchers from the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, the new experiment will utilize the “small universal biological cultivation module” of the “life ecosystem experiment cabinet” aboard the orbiting outpost.
Researchers will study the specific effects of the space environment on the regeneration process and physiological behavior of planaria to gain a deeper understanding of this mechanism.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Age-related degenerative diseases
China’s space station has previously hosted zebrafish and fruit flies. The specimens allow researchers to study the effects of microgravity on the proteins in bones and muscles, and how hypomagnetic and microgravity conditions impact living organisms’ genes and behavior patterns.
As reported by China Daily, an upcoming Chinese Shenzhou piloted spacecraft will carry dozens of planarian fragments into orbit. “Studying planarians holds significant implications for combating cellular aging and age-related degenerative diseases in humans,” the posting added.
China established its own space station system after the launch of the Tianhe core module in April 2021, followed by the Wentian and Mengtian laboratory modules in 2022.
For information on the planarian experiment, go to:
At the European Space Agency’s ESTEC installation, Belbruno describes his unorthodox way to plot out unique trajectories through art. Image credit: Edward Belbruno
The heaven’s above is a tapestry of mystery and beauty.
For Ed Belbruno the universe around us is more than eye-catching. It’s a medium for infinite fine art, artistic renderings that can capture weak stability boundaries and how to use them for spacecraft missions to the Moon and beyond.
Belbruno is a visiting research collaborator in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University.
Showings of his art are being sponsored by the European Space Agency and have been displayed at several ESA installations.
Edward Belbruno’s Low Fuel Route to Moon artwork, chalk pastel on paper (1986). (Image credit: Edward Belbruno)
Ballistic capture via paint brush
“It is exciting that my pastel painting, ‘Low Fuel Route to the Moon’ (1986), is featured in the exhibition touring ESA,” Belbruno told Space.com. “This is because it actually gave rise to the first transfer to the Moon that arrives at the Moon in ballistic capture…that is, a spacecraft using this would be automatically captured into lunar orbit without any fuel,” he said.
For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “Capturing the cosmos on canvas – Astrophysicist and artist Ed Belbruno explains how art helps scientists communicate their work to the public and even discover solutions to spaceflight and astronomy problems” – at:
Image credit: Naval History and Heritage Command
Eye-patch on and crank up your best “grrr.”
And while you’re at it, plop down a stack of doubloons and conjure up visions of “Captain” Jack Sparrow!
Talk about “high crimes” and misdemeanors. The growing pace of space as a commercial resource brings with it the prospect for misdeeds, corruption, piracy, and war.
The Center for the Study of Space Crime, Policy, and Governance (CSCPG) is looking into the risks of piracy in space and solutions to this potentially devastating economic and legal problem.
They call it “speculative non-fiction” – to learn more, go to my new Space.com story – “Space pirates already have their sights set on the ‘high seas’ of Earth orbit. Can we stop them?” – at:
Image credit: Naval History and Heritage Command
Blue Ghost lunar lander.
Image credit: Firefly Aerospace
The Blue Ghost Mission 1 spacecraft sitting on the Moon completed more than 14 days of surface operations (346 hours of daylight), and operated just over 5 hours into the super-chilly lunar night.
Final data from the lunar lander was received on March 16.
“This achievement marks the longest commercial operations on the Moon to date,” Firefly Aerospace, builder of the lander, noted in a statement.
Blue Ghost captured imagery of the lunar sunset and provided critical data on how lunar regolith reacts to solar influences during lunar dusk conditions.
Artwork credit: Firefly Aerospace/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Rising from the dead?
Could Blue Ghost rise from the dead given the next burst of daylight at the landing site?
“We did not design our mission 1 hardware to survive the rest of the lunar night, so we don’t expect Blue Ghost to survive,” said Risa Schnautz, Firefly’s director of marketing and communications. “This capability can be a major mission architecture driver for both a lander and its payloads and was not required for this mission.”
On the other hand, Schnautz told Inside Outer Space that Firefly Aerospace ground operators will check back in early April “when there’s daylight again to see if there are any signs of life. It’s of course possible, but not expected.”
Photo taken from the Blue Ghost lander’s top deck shows X-band antenna (left), the Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (center), and the Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder mast (right). Image credit: Firefly Aerospace
Successful operations
All 10 NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) instruments successfully operated on the lunar surface and collected their science data after Blue Ghost Mission 1’s arrival on the Moon on March 2.
Throughout the mission, Blue Ghost transmitted more than 119 gigabytes (GB) of data back to Earth, including 51 GB of science and technology data, “significantly surpassing Firefly’s mission requirements,” the Cedar, Texas-based group added.
Here are the key payload milestones completed on the lunar surface by Blue Ghost, according to Firefly Aerospace:
LuGRE: Integrated on Blue Ghost’s antenna gimbal on the top deck, LuGRE successfully acquired and tracked Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals, from satellite networks such as GPS and Galileo, on the way to and on the Moon’s surface for the first time. This achievement suggests GPS-like signals could be used to navigate future missions to the Moon and beyond.
NGLR: The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR) mounted on Blue Ghost’s antenna gimbal successfully reflected laser pulses from Earth-based Lunar Laser Ranging Observatories (LLROs), allowing scientists to precisely measure the Moon’s shape and distance from Earth, expanding our understanding of the Moon’s inner structure.
Every single Firefly employee’s name is etched on the Blue Ghost lunar lander plaque and is now on the Moon’s surface.
Image credit: Firefly Aerospace
LEXI: Mounted on Blue Ghost’s top deck on another Firefly-developed gimbal, the Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) captured a series of X-ray images to study the interaction of solar wind and the Earth’s magnetic field, providing insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces surrounding Earth affect the planet.
LMS: Blue Ghost also deployed four tethered Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) electrodes on the surface, reaching a distance up to 60 feet from the lander, and deployed a six-foot mast above its top deck to enable the payload team to measure electric and magnetic fields and learn more about the Moon’s composition up to 700 miles, or two-thirds the distance to the Moon’s center.
RadPC: Integrated below Blue Ghost’s top deck, RadPC demonstrated a computer that can withstand space radiation while in transit to the Moon, including through the Earth’s Van Allen Belts, and on the Moon’s surface.
RAC: Mounted above Blue Ghost’s lower deck, the Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) instrument examined how lunar regolith sticks to a range of materials exposed to the Moon’s environment, allowing the industry to better test, improve, and protect spacecraft, spacesuits, and habitats from abrasive regolith.
Image captures LISTER in operation on the Moon.
Image credit: Firefly Aerospace/NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
SCALPSS: Mounted below Blue Ghost’s lower deck, the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS) instrument captured images during the spacecraft’s lunar descent and touchdown on the Moon, providing insights into the effects engine plumes have on the surface for future robotics and crewed Moon landings.
LISTER: Also mounted below Blue Ghost’s lower deck, the Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER) payload drilled about three feet into the surface to measure the temperature and flow of heat from the Moon’s interior. This pneumatic, gas-powered drill is now the deepest-reaching robotic planetary subsurface probe.
Lunar PlanetVac: Deployed on Blue Ghost’s surface access arm, the Lunar PlanetVac successfully collected, transferred, and sorted lunar regolith from the Moon using pressurized nitrogen gas, proving to be a low cost, low mass solution for future robotic sample collection.
Lunar PlanetVac deployed by Blue Ghost.
Image credit: Firefly Aerospace
EDS: Also deployed on Blue Ghost’s surface access arm, the Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) successfully lifted and removed lunar regolith using electrodynamic forces on the glass and thermal radiator surfaces. These results confirm EDS as a promising solution for dust mitigation on future lunar and interplanetary surface operations.
What next?
In looking ahead, Firefly Aerospace said it is ramping up for annual missions to the Moon.
“The team has begun qualifying and assembling flight hardware for Blue Ghost Mission 2, which will utilize Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander stacked on an Elytra Dark orbital vehicle for operations in lunar orbit and on the far side of the Moon,” the company said in a statement.
Blue Ghost Mission 2
Artwork: Firefly Aerospace
For more information on Firefly Aerospace, go to:
Wait-a-Minute!
Image credit: Barbara David
It’s a wait-a-minute moment as featured in a new issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
“Mars Attacks: How Elon Musk’s plans to colonize Mars threaten Earth” is the work of Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith, adapted from their book A City on Mars
Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through? (Penguin Press).
This fully-illustrated comic explores the implications of space colonization.
“If the world’s most powerful nation, helped along by history’s most powerful rocket company, were to scrap international space law, it would have consequences that may echo for centuries,” writes Kelly Weinersmith, adjunct faculty member at Rice University, and Zach Weinersmith, creator of the popular webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.
Artwork credit: Zach Weinersmith
Signing of Outer Space Treaty.
Image credit: United Nations
Outer Space Treaty
“Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is intent on creating a one-million-person colony on Mars. As the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk also seems content to break anything that stands in his way—including potentially a Cold War era treaty that has kept humanity safe for over 50 years, the Outer Space Treaty (OST),” they write. “Musk’s rejection of international governance could have lasting implications for life on earth, and could augur a new era of geopolitical conflict.”
To read the full story, go to:
“Wait-a-minute”
Image credit: Barbara David
Wait-a-Minute!
Image credit: Barbara David
Call it a pre-emptive strike, as well as a “wait-a-minute” moment in U.S. rocketry.
A Boeing-backed website is in full-advocacy mode for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS).
Image credit: Watch U.S. Fly
On one hand, pundits are poking at the Boeing SLS contract, at a time of internal and external looks at NASA’s budgetary condition.
For good measure, toss in SpaceX’s Elon Musk and his Trump-supported Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) campaign. And then there’s the upshot from Musk’s Starship program.
Image credit: SpaceX
There’s even discussion of skipping the Moon and heading for Mars – a scenario that would question the ongoing NASA Artemis “rebooting” of the Moon with human expeditions.
Critical component
SLS is a powerful rocket that’s “irreplaceable” to our nation’s long-term space strategy, the website states. “Congress must prioritize its continued funding to establish America’s leadership role in space.”
Space Launch System (SLS) Credit: NASA/MSFC
SLS is the centerpiece of the Artemis missions, argues the website, “and a critical component for America’s continuing dominance in space. Importantly, it’s the only rocket that can lift the Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.”
“Adversarial nations like Russia and China are investing heavily in space exploration, which puts America’s role as the global space leader in jeopardy,” states a communique, adding that “NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is the answer to this threat.”
Letter-writing campaign
A letter-writing campaign for “SLS Will Deliver US Dominance in Space” is at:
For more details, go to:
Image credit: Barbara David
Book Review: Space Piracy – Preparing for a Criminal Crisis in Orbit by Marc Feldman and Hugh Taylor, Published by John Wiley & Sons; 256 pages; E-Book Starting at $18.00; Hardcover Starting at $30.00.
This book is quite the lean into it, forward-thinking volume that takes on topics few researchers have tackled. It’s an invaluable look at space as a commercial resource, but primarily the prospect for crime, corruption, piracy, and war.
The authors are Marc Feldman, a Managing Partner at Eonia Capital, an aerospace and defense-based venture capital fund, and Hugh Taylor, Executive Editor of The Journal of Cyber Policy and a cybersecurity and enterprise technologist.
Talk about “high crimes” and misdemeanors!
Criminality in space is explored in this book, from space hacking to existing cybersecurity standards and practices in space, laws and treaties relevant to space crime, as well as cartels and kidnappers.
As Colonel Eric Felt of the US Space Force writes in the book’s foreword: “In my view, we can deter and defeat space pirates, but not by doing nothing. The book thoughtfully outlines specific actions that can and should be taken today, specific actions for the intelligence community, Space Force, private sector, and other stakeholders.”
Feldman and Taylor provide a viable and valuable read, indeed, a 101 course on the idea of space piracy. As they write, “we think the phenomenon will occur,” and offer suggestions for mitigating the risk. “We refer to our content as ‘speculative nonfiction,’” they add.
Space Piracy – Preparing for a Criminal Crisis in Orbit is an eye-opening volume. It does what the authors were seeking to do, to “catalyze the conversations that need to take place.”
Those that have a vested interest in the multi-billion dollar commercial space of today and what’s ahead, space exploration progress that is leading to space colonization, will find this book a tour guide of trouble-brewing possibilities.
For more information about this book, go to:
https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Space+Piracy%3A+Preparing+for+a+Criminal+Crisis+in+Orbit-p-9781394240210
Also, go to the Center for the Study of Space Crime, Piracy, and Governance at:
Take a look at this webinar: Space – The Next Frontier for Money Laundering at:
Also, check out the Space Beach Law Lab that is returning to the Queen Mary on March 25 to 27 for their second annual conference on space law.
Go to: https://www.spacelawlab.com/
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China is turning its attention to future space mining. A multifunctional space mining robot is being pursued by experts at the China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT).
Liu Xinhua at CUMT explains that the space mining robot differs from the widely known humanoid robots and robotic dogs.
Instead, the mining robot adopts a six-legged design, featuring three wheel legs and three claw legs, which would allow it to function efficiently in microgravity conditions.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Claw system
“In space, objects do not stay in place like they do on Earth due to the lack of gravity. If you push something, it will float away, just like astronauts inside a space station,” Liu told China Central Television (CCTV).
The research team took inspiration from insect claws and designed a special claw structure to improve the robot’s grip.
“This claw system is an array-type structure that enhances adhesion and gripping ability in microgravity environments. It allows the robot to stay anchored while collecting samples and move efficiently based on the terrain,” Liu added.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Preliminary testing
The space mining robot is equipped with a “biomimetic” six-legged movement system. Each leg has wheel and anchor configurations, enabling the robot to traverse rough and uneven surfaces on asteroids, CCTV reports.
Biomimetics or biomimicry is the emulation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems.
Prototype hardware has already undergone preliminary testing to validate the team’s approach.
Liu said the robot was able to walk, anchor itself, and even collect samples in a simulated lunar soil environment.
Artist’s view of International Lunar Research Station . Credit: CNSA
Lunar research base
In related work, China is aiming to realize a crewed Moon landing by 2030. By 2035, the country has stated it wants to establish the core structure of a Moon base, “with the possibility of long-term unmanned operation with the prospect of ensuring a human presence on the Moon.”
The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) is targeted for the Moon’s south pole region, and to establish a lunar research station connecting the Moon’s south pole, equator, and far side by 2050.
For a video view of China’s robotic space mining work, go to:
